Introduction

2007 marks a century of organized soil conservation and land restoration operation in Iceland. The Icelandic State Soil Conservation Service (SCS), one of the oldest such operations in the world, has played a critical role in combating land degradation at a national level and celebrates its centenary in 2007. On this occasion, the SCS will be holding an International Forum on Soils, Society and Global Change, in partnership with several Icelandic institutions, international agencies, organizations and universities (see Partners). The President of Iceland, His Excellency Dr Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, is the Patron of this Forum.

The main aim of this International Forum is to elaborate on the synergistic roles of soil conservation and vegetation restoration in meeting local, regional and global environmental and social challenges (see Objectives). The important role of soil as a common denominator for the successful implementation of key Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) will receive particular attention. The Forum will further aim to facilitate knowledge transfer and cross-fertilization of ideas through dialogue between scientists, policy-makers, land users and business interests. As such, the Forum will bring together key stakeholders and specialists from around the world, representing a broad spectrum of disciplines and interests.
 

Forum Background and Context

Land degradation – manifest in the form of soil erosion and desertification – is a global problem of major proportion, and is hampering efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in all eco-regions of the world. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment has ranked land degradation among the world’s greatest environmental challenges, affecting climate and biological diversity, reducing environmental security, destabilizing societies, endangering food security and increasing poverty.

Land degradation is directly linked to global climate change in many ways, including reducing the carbon sequestration capacity of land, particularly as a result of soil erosion and loss of vegetation, and by creating adverse local weather patterns due to impacts on albedo from loss of vegetation cover. Conversely, climate change exacerbates land degradation, primarily through changes in precipitation and evapo-transpiration patterns, coupled with more extreme meteorological events. Increases in floods, droughts and fires are a consequence of a changing climate and deteriorating vegetation, and accelerate land degradation processes. Loss of soil and vegetation, or changes in soil nutrients and moisture, can lead to a loss in biodiversity. This in turn can reduce production and accelerate land degradation, and constrain our capacity for responding to change. The interlinkages between these global environmental problems are profound.

The Forum will focus on innovative ways to collectively tackle the interrelated facets of these problems, in particular by the application of sustainable land management approaches. It will emphasize the synergistic role of sustainable soil management and of ecosystem restoration in achieving the MDGs. In this context, the Forum will explore where improvements can be made in linkages between the UN Conventions on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Combating Desertification (UNCCD) and Biological Diversity (UNCBD), to increase the effectiveness of their implementation. To sustainably manage land resources and reverse the damage caused by land degradation is an immediate and critically important challenge for the world.
 

Why Iceland?

Vast areas of land in Iceland have undergone extensive vegetation degradation and soil erosion since the beginning of human settlement in the ninth century. As much as half of the vegetative cover may have gone and a national survey completed in 1997 revealed that serious soil erosion characterizes about 40% of the country.

The Government of Iceland and the Icelandic community have a history of working together to develop successful ecosystem restoration schemes for vast areas of severely degraded land, and to protect existing ecosystems and unique landscapes. This is reflected in the translation of the Icelandic name of the Soil Conservation Service as the “Healing-the-Land Institute”.

With its extensive problems of land degradation and desertification, and experiences from a century of practical soil conservation, Iceland provides a perfect venue to hold an International Forum aimed at having open discussions and promoting cross-fertilization of ideas to fashion a consensus on the importance of soils. This Forum will build on the linkages implicit among the Forum’s participants and will strive to promote the value of increasing synergies between different disciplines to help achieve sustainable land management in the 21^st century. 
 

Organizing Committee Members

Dr Andres Arnalds (Chair), Assistant Director, Icelandic Soil Conservation Service (SCS)

Dr Zafar Adeel, Director, United Nations University - International Network on Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH)

Dr Asa L. Aradottir, Professor, Agricultural University of Iceland

Dr Roger Crofts, Environment and Management Adviser, Scotland

Dr Brynhildur Davidsdottir, Professor, University of Iceland

Dr Ian Hannam, Adjunct Professor, University of New England, Australia

Dr Anton Imeson, Professor, Amsterdam University, Netherlands

Dr Rattan Lal, Professor, Ohio State University, USA

Dr Maryam Niamir-Fuller, United Nations Development Programme, Global Environment Facility (UNDP-GEF)

Dr Uriel Safriel, Professor, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

Mr Gudmundur I. Gudbrandsson, Icelandic Soil Conservation Service (SCS), Secretary to the Organizing Committee

Ms Harriet Bigas, United Nations University – International Network on Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH), Project Assistant

Ms Birta Bjargardóttir, Icelandic Soil Conservation Service (SCS), Project Assistant